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Jeong-Wan: a different kind of "Buddy System" - RentaFriend.com
For strictly platonic friendships only: http://rentafriend.com/ What it is (and a little bit of its history): http://rentafriend.com/whatis RentaFriend.com is an online platform through which, as the nature of its name suggests, anyone can “rent” a friend, and sign up to become a friend. The website places a very, very big emphasis on its principle of "'platonic '''companionships ''only" throughout its entire site and in almost every descriptive paragraph of its services. This website qualifies as a P2P network as its functionality depends on peers (literally and figuratively) supplying and consuming the resource of “friendship.” The site offers its interested viewers two options to become involved within the network: *You could sign up to become a member by paying a nominal fee, to rent the friends available. *And/or you could sign up, for free, to become a friend for rent on the website. RentaFriend.com was founded by Scott Rosenbaum (http://rentafriend.com/press/). Mr. Rosenbaum's inspiration for this platform came from his observation of the abundance of companies/sites in Asia that catered to many different types of socializing needs (dating, family-member fill-in's, etc), and the comparative lack of it in North America. This site was created to help people cope with the variety of socializing needs society begets. How it works: "It" as the platform's service: Once you become a friend, you produce a small introduction of yourself becomes available for viewing on the site for members to look up. Your information includes your location, your interests, an email and phone number. Registered friend-seeking members can then search you up based on your interests and location. A friend’s contact information is kept confidential from all non-members. Registered members’ contact information is kept completely confidential from even the friends they are seeking, unless the members decide to contact (and exchange contact info) with the friends they are interested in. This allows for easy (and for some, “shameless”) friend searching by members. When a friend is contacted and agreed to for "rent," a payment system is set up between the friend-requester and the friend-for-rent: usually the friend-for-sale charges a minimum of $10/hour and the activity that will be done by both friends will be accounted for by the friend-requester. Payment systems are independent of rentafriend.com (the company), so friends-for-rent are free to set their own prices. RentaFriend is connected to friends worldwide: friends are not limited to finding friends just around their geographical location. As a global service platform, RentaFriend helps decentralize the socialization process of making friends and acquaintances by expanding a friend's "location" to anywhere all over the world where the online world can be accessed. "It" as the company behind the platform: The RentaFriend.com's governance/administration system is not made public, with only its owner/founder's name released: Scott Rosenbaum (http://rentafriend.com/press/). As far as we know, the company could be composed of a hierarchy or could be just one person managing the platform. However, as the platform is more passive in its role (as a presentor/matchmaker of contacts and information), than active (as an information manipulator), the administrative system does not seem to be challenged by its users. The company can be contacted through the "contact us" page, and an empty feedback forum page also sits under the same heading, for public discussions/concerns/inquiries to take place. In regards to the company's profits, the site's membership site requests a membership fee of all its members (in monthly or yearly payments), and has an affiliate system through which revenue is divided among fairly with. When a website seeks to become an affiliate of Rentafriend, the affiliate website is given banners and links to display on its site. When a user clicks on the affiliate site's links to rentafriend.com, their affiliate software will track the user's activity on rentafriend.com, and should the user become a member, 50% of the revenue coming from that user will be handed over to the affiliate. Why the friend-less and the friend-full might join this platform: People of all demographic categories could choose to join this platform for many reasons; to name a few: new experiences, help, actual friendship, and a source of income. The “what is it” page lists many hypothetical situations in which renting a friend could be very helpful: one might not have a friend within their immediate social network, or close geographic proximity, who shares an interest with them for an upcoming event/activity; one could be lonely travelling solo in a new country; a daughter living far away from her immobile mother might wish to provide company for her mother as she cannot do it herself; and one could just be seeking an additional source of income and some good times along with it. (In the FAQ’s section, the calculation of a friend’s possible yearly salary makes the site seem pretty lucrative – a full-time friend who charges $50/hour, and works 40/week, could make $96,000/year.) Stranger Dangers?: "Stranger" as the friend-for-rent: Under the Terms and Conditions for Privacy laid out by RentaFriend (http://rentafriend.com/privacy/), friends-for-rent should be safe to contact. All breaches of the terms and conditions gives RentaFriend the right to revoke a member's membership, and take down a friend-for-rent from the network. The "contact us" and feedback forum allows for comments and concerns to be voiced, privately or publicly. Also on the same page, the company explicitly states it does not guarantee the safety of its members or do background checks of its friends-for-rent. They do, however, offer some tips on how friends could take safety measures before planned meetings (ex: telling family members where they will be, meeting in a public place, etc.). "Stranger" as the company (that we know very little about): Under the "Join us" page, the potential member is guaranteed (publicly) by RentaFriend that the member's contact and billing information will be kept confidential - no third party will be given access to any of this information. Far from dangerous or conniving, the company also openly states it has a "100% satisfaction guarantee" that will result in your full refund should you not be satisfied with your experience as a member. Overall, the openness of the company's workings and guarantees, and the option to give feedback in an open or closed manner, subjects all of the "peers" on this platform to the network's scrutiny - allowing members to trust that any deceit of the terms/conditions will not go unnoticed. In summary: RentaFriend.com is a P2P platform that anyone (legal under their governing state's jurisdiction on internet participation) can participate in to fill in empty "friend gaps," and/or add to their own positive socialization experiences, that may appear throughout their lives: everything from life long friendships and no-strings-attached acquaintances have been experienced by members and friends of the platform's network. The platform succeeds, let alone, exists, in its uniqueness of service in the virtual-social world; open terms and conditions; and the mutual benefits that come for every party that takes part within the network. The aggregation of different personalities, identities, and goals allows for the pairs and connections that hold the network together. Sources: http://rentafriend.com/ http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/rentafriend-lets-buy-friends-hire/story?id=11148093